Lewis structure is a very common and usual name in the fields of chemistry. Lewis structure is basically a graphical representation of the electron distribution around a particular atom. It is also known as Lewis dot diagrams. This program of graphical representation gives us all the information about the bonding between atoms and the distribution of lone pairs of electron that May be present in the molecule. This diagram can be shown on the behalf of coordination or covalent compounds. This system shows the structure and position of an atom in an existing molecule. Several dots are used in Lewis dot diagram to represent the presence of valance electron in the valance orbital of an atom. Sometimes few lines or dots are drawn between atoms just to show the bonding between them and to show the lone pairs, pair of dots is made just beside the atom. Lewis diagram was invented to clear out the concept of structure of an atom for the students who have doubts in their mind. Renowned scientist Gilbert N. Lewis had introduced this diagram for the first time in 1916 in an article called “the atom and the molecule”. There after this method was named after his name. There are different paths available to draw out the Lewis dot diagrams, so we are going to discuss about some of them in this article.
Applications of Lewis diagram
Sometimes it becomes really very important to write down the chemical structure of different components just to understand the inner structure and bonding relation between same or different atoms. While expressing a concise structural formation like an organic element, it often happens that the covalent bonds are not shown. In this case the adscripts directs the numbers of identical groups are present in a specific atom. There is a method called skeletal formula comes up, in which the atoms of carbon does not identified by the C but the turrets present in the structural formula does the job and the hydrogen atoms that are bonded to carbon are not visible because it is guessed by counting the number of bonds attached to the carbon atom while each carbon is supposed to have 4 bonds in total.
In spite of having less growth development in twentieth century, understanding and getting the knowledge of chemical bonding was still inceptive. But the Lewis dot diagram then brings out the solution for understanding the electronic structure of a specific molecule. This method then suddenly became very famous among the chemistry teachers and chemists who were really very genuine in the field of organic part in chemistry.
But there is a fact certainly appears that there are some molecules available for which the Lewis structure without a baseless formation can be really inappropriate to define the structure of the atom in it. The drawings of Lewis structure which are ingenuous were proven experimentally that it leads incorrect information about bond lengths, bond orders and magnetic properties of an element. The basic Lewis structure is also not able to define the phenomena called aromaticity. It does not give you the explanation of the reason behind the stabilization of benzene (C6H6) beyond delocalization effect.
How to draw Lewis structure
To construct the Lewis dot diagram you must have to look after some important points
- First of all you have to find out that how many electrons are there in the valance cell of the atom in the specific molecule.
- It is a basic rule having been used since a long time is called as the ‘octet rule’ in which it was said that, every atom in a molecule required to have eight electrons in their valance orbital to be declared as a stable atom. So in the second step you have to look for the number of electrons left to fill the valance orbital.
- One important thing you must know that when one electron from each atom comes and pair with each other and make a bond is called as the covalent bond. If you have already counted the number of electrons you have in the valance orbital of the atom then subtract 8 from the number and the figure will tell you that how many electrons you have in excess. And the excess number of electrons has to be removed and paired up to make a bond between the atoms. Each bond contains 2 electrons that means the number bonds will be always half of the bond making electrons.
- It is always proven that the central atoms of an element have the least amount of electro negativity and the highest amount of valance in it. You can easily find out an element with least amount of electro negativity from the periodic table. As per the periodic rule of Dmitri Mendeleev ‘s modern periodic table, electro negativity of a element decreases when moving down towards the bottom from the top of the table and increases when moving towards the right side of the table from the left side.
- If you finally find out a central atom then connect it the other atoms with a simple straight line which represents the bonds between them. Each bond contains 2 electrons. The central atom can be attached with that number of other atoms depending on the valency of it.
- After making the bonds with outer atoms place the remaining electrons around the central atom and those electrons which are not participating in the bonds are called as the lone pairs. Lone pairs sometimes form as a bond called double or triple bond and they have their other different characteristics.
So if you are done with the tasks mentioned above then you will figure out that a structural drawing has been presented in front of you. But remember one thing that Lewis structure is conceptual method to remember the main structural figure of atom but in reality things are very much different. There each and every shell of the atoms gets filled depending on the energy of the orbital that does not follow the rule of Lewis structure.
Final words
So this is all about the facts and methods that will help you to reach the door of knowledge you are seeking. Lewis dot diagram is a very well maintained strategy to gain your concept about the core of the atoms and their characteristics. So if you want to know something about this which will truly help you in the field of chemistry then this should be your destination. Remember one thing, there are lots of other websites available out where you can get the information but I would suggest you to stay away from those sites. In the name of getting the information you might end up downloading some virus or malware in your device.
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